Many attempts have been made to simulate natural daylight by artificial means. Some of the more successful devices for this purpose are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,079,683; 5,083,252; and 5,282,115. The entire disclosure of each of these United States patents is hereby incorporated by reference into this specification.
In applicant's U.S. Pat. No. 5,418,419, a lamp assembly adapted to produce daylight is described. This lamp assembly contains a lamp disposed within a reflector body whose interior surface is coated so that its reflectance level reflects radiance of every wavelength of the entire visible spectrum. The entire disclosure of U.S. Pat. No. 5,418,419 is hereby incorporated by reference into this specification.
Most light fixtures are not adapted to receive a reflector assembly, such as the assembly of U.S. Pat. No. 5,418,419. Furthermore, the reflector component of such assembly is expensive to make.
It is an object of this invention to provide a lamp suitable for producing a daylight spectrum which does not require the presence of a reflector.
It is another object of this invention to provide a daylight lamp which is substantially more efficient than the daylight lamp assembly of U.S. Pat. No. 5,418,419.
It is another object of this invention to provide a daylight lamp whose spectral output does not contain substantial amounts of ultraviolet light.
It is another object of this invention to provide a daylight lamp which can be substantially smaller than the daylight lamp assembly of U.S. Pat. No. 5,418,419.
It is another object of this invention to provide a daylight lamp which, when used in conjunction with a standard reflector, provides a directional daylight beam.
It is another object of this invention to provide a lamp whose spectral output and irradiance can be varied.